Carl Edwards has rediscovered his fandom for NASCAR but the 28-race Cup Series winner is only interested in a one-off comeback on one condition.
Horsepower.
Denny Hamlin was a teammate to Edwards at Joe Gibbs Racing in 2015 and 2016 and has offered the recently inducted Hall of Famer a ride whenever he wants it at 23XI Racing.
“I just told him whenever he’s ready, just let me know, whenever you get that itch,” Hamlin recounted on his Actions Detrimental podcast on Monday. “I think he’s probably stated many times – until they put horsepower back in these cars, I’m not doing it.”
He has stated it before, that he didn’t miss driving a Cup car until he saw the first Bristol Dirt Race in 2021.
“My whole career, my favorite thing has been sliding the cars around and managing horsepower,” Edwards said. “That race, if it wasn’t any fun, I don’t want anyone to tell me that. Because, it looked like, just a blast.”
It’s consistent with a message he issued in 2008, too.
“The fact is that these are the 43 best drivers in the world,” Edwards said. “The cars have 900 horsepower and go 200 miles an hour, and the track is slippery and the tires are slippery, and that’s a spectacle–and that’s what it’s supposed to be.”
NASCAR began reducing horsepower in 2015 from over 900 to 750 and then as low as 550. The current cars make 670, much to the chagrin of the industry, and Edwards would no doubt share that frustration if he was still an active competitor.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.